Jane Austen's novels weren't illustrated in her lifetime, but images designed to accompany her fiction began to appear soon after her death in 1817. Austen's first illustrators were Continental artists (French and German) whose single images appeared in early translations abroad. The first artist who produced a series of illustrations for all six of her novels, however, was English. His name was Pickering, and he created 10 designs (engraved by another artist) for the Bentley Standard Novels edition of Jane Austen of 1833.

Who was Pickering? A learned Jane Austen scholar, the late David Gilson, identified him as "probably George Pickering" in his A Bibliography of Jane Austen. But Gilson's "probably" slid into a straight-up identification as "George Pickering" in later sources. That guesswork was off. I've identified the first English Austen illustrator as Ferdinand Pickering. Read more about his Gothic, female-dominated, and family-focused designs, and his dark, violent family life, in The Making of Jane Austen's Chapter One.

Pickering's Sense and Sensibility

Pickering's ​Pride and Prejudice

Pickering's ​Mansfield Park

Pickering's ​Emma

Pickering's Northanger Abbey and Persuasion

Is It right for your book club?

Yes, definitely! I'd love to hear from you if you're considering it.

This book works best in clubs familiar with Austen's fiction OR its film adaptations. (You could read or watch Pride and Prejudice and then choose this book.)